Nicaea was an important city of the Hellenistic and Roman Kingdom of Bithynia. In the Turkish period, the city was named as İznik and it became the largest tile production centre.

There were approximately 340 ateliers of tiles in İznik. When an Ottoman sultan wanted to build a new building, he sent a message to the governor of İznik. All the work was distributed to the ateliers. In the beginning of the 16th century, motifs on tiles had blue, dark blue and yellow colors on white background. In the second half of the century more motifs were used and color combination becomes more complex.